Retired Supreme Court judge T S Sinnathuray died of pneumonia on Jan 19, 2016.PHOTO: ST FILEIt seems this man had died yesterday in Singapore after many years as Lee Kuan Yew's hatchet man to remove all political opponents. I have known him while I was practicing law in Singapore island from 1979 to 1991. This is one man who had no principles whatsoever. Absolutely none. His only purpose sitting as a judge in the Singapore courts was just one thing, that is to please Lee Kuan Yew who put him there. And anyone who opposed his master would be promptly bought before him and destroyed as was Lee's bidding. I too had the misfortune of being hauled before him. In 1991, at the general elections in that island, I stood as the Workers Party candidate (an opposition party) for Bukit Merah. During one of the rallies at which I spoke, I stated that the rules that allow Subordinate Court Judges to be removed by the Legal Service Commission (a government body) whose chief was the Attorney General, showed lack of independence. This was at the suggestion of the late JB Jeyaretam who was the head of the party. I asked that the same rules that apply to High Court judges, of security of tenure, should equally apply to Subordinate Court judges. For having said this, a totally innocuous statement, Lee's Attorney General brought contempt of charges against me. The accusation was that I had suggested that the Subordinate Courts were not independent, a very long stretch of imagination indeed, and brought before this judge for punishment. It was quite evident, as with all cases against political opponents in the island, that they didn't care how silly they looked. The primary objective was the intimidation and silencing of anyone who criticized. This was how it was done. You take English cases which have not the slightest comparison to mine, and then you selectively take some dicta from that case such as "disrespect to the court deserves punishment" and conveniently say I disrespected and therefore I should be punished! I remember the cases that the prosecution relied on to achieve their intended objective. In one case, many years ago in England, a man had brought a bomb into the court! In another case, another man had strewn a great deal of garbage into an English courtroom! In another a disgruntled litigant had hurled abuses and obscenities at the judge in open court! Naturally in these sort of cases, the judge would have said that disrespect to the court should be punished. But there was not the slightest comparison to my case. Well that's how, Lee Kuan Yew's Kangaroo judge, TS Sinnathuray does it, as it is with every other Singapore judge. Needless to say I was convicted. The plan was to give a clear signal not to mess around with the dictator Lee Kuan Yew or else. I was fined $8,000.00 (Singapore) or else spend 3 months in jail. My ex-wife who now lives in Singapore, Elizabeth Cardoza who was working for the Singapore government had more money than I had. She helped pay the fine. I avoided jail. This case was in 1991, just before I permanently left the island for San Francisco California in December 1991. I remember another case a few years before this. I represented an Indian woman who was married to a New Zealand soldier who was stationed in Singapore at Dieppe Barracks. As the Singapore woman had a child from an earlier marriage, she needed the court's consent to take the child to New Zealand. I argued that it was far better for the child to be brought up in New Zealand rather than Singapore. After all New Zealand is a proud democracy unlike Singapore. This judge got very mad at that. He said I shouldn't say that New Zealand was any better and Singapore was the best. Of course not wanting to be cited for contempt, as anything could happen in the island Kangaroo courts, I naturally agreed that Singapore courts was the best in the world. If needed I would have even said the he was the best judge in the world as well! My memory fails me but I do believe that she did take the kid to New Zealand after all. It is ironic that he said this to me, when this state controlled newspaper reports that his 41 year old daughter Shamona is a lawyer. A quick check on the Internet reveals a Shamona Ranee Sinnathuray with an address in London England. It seems sauce for the goose is not sauce for the gander. In spite of defending his master Lee Kuan Yew and Singapore, his own daughter has found life in Singapore rather stifling, perhaps. The punishment that I received was nothing compared to what he did to JB Jeyaretnam, a highly respected opposition politician whom he repeatedly persecuted to please his master. Each time Lee Kuan Yew brought his politically motivated defamation lawsuits, it was mostly before this disgraceful man to shamelessly abuse the law to destroy him. As a result JB Jeyaretnam was made to pay as much as a few million dollars, yes a few million dollars, to pay Lee Kuan Yew, not for a purpose to compensate him but to destroy Jeyaretnam. Jeyaretnam has since died. This dead man, Sinnathuray, is not only a disgrace, he was also a fool. Did he really benefit by the millions Lee paid him for his dirty work? True money can make life a little better perhaps, but it can never make one happy. Happiness lies in those men who live honorable lives. Where he can look into the mirror and be proud of who he is. That is happiness. Not the way this man has prostituted his judicial office for personal gain. And finally all your might and power only applies in that tiny island. This blog is being read widely in Singapore. Why don't Lee Kuan Yew's son, the Prime Minister now, come after me here? It won't work would it? I live in a democracy with independent judiciary. Not the Kangaroo ones like this guy. Gopalan Nair Attorney at Law Fremont, California USATel: 510 491 8525Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com

Friday, January 15, 2016

Because of its denial of democratic rights, in the long run, tiny Singapore island with its tiny population simply cannot compete with free democratic countries.

For any country to advance and progress, firstly its people should have respect for its institutions. Today every single core institution in the island has been thoroughly discredited. Singapore's judges have been seen for a long time as mere henchmen of the ruling government, routinely jailing government critics, peaceful protesters and anyone who stands against them as criminals.

Anyone who believes that Singapore has the rule of law believes the Moon is made of cheese.

As a result, the average Singaporean is resigned to the fact that if you want to live in the island, you simply have to obey and submit.

Rights which one would have taken for granted such as an independent press, right to free speech and expression and peaceful protest have all been criminalized and the understanding is that if you wish to live in the island, it will be on their terms, not yours.

And by far the most disgusting part of life in Singapore is the rulers open and shameless corruption, which once again, you have to accept or else go to jail. Lee Kuan Yew's son, the present day dictator of the island pays himself and every single Minister in his government who all happen to be his relatives both close and distant (a big family government), no less than $2 million dollars per year. Anyone with eyes can see this is corruption, but if you complain, you are faced with the routine defamation of character lawsuits which will end in your shaming in the state controlled press and certain bankruptcy.

Now who in his right mind would want to live in such a state if he could avoid it.

As a result there continues to be a mounting brain drain to the West. More and more young men and women naturally find such a life distasteful and simply pack up and leave. It is bad enough for a large country like China to lose its talent but can you imagine how devastating it is for a tiny island like this.

Besides those leaving, there are those who can contribute to society who remain in Singapore but refuse to participate in this dictatorship because they find it disgraceful. There are thousands of highly educated and skilled individuals who simply lead a quite elusive, reclusive life because they don't want to sully their hands with this dictatorship. Here again is another section of society who are lost for Singapore's progress.

Anyone can see the difference between the free and democratic societies and the dictatorships like Singapore. The educated and skilled continue to pour into the West, such as Australia New Zealand USA and Canada. I don't think the best and the brightest are making a bee line for this island.

Naturally people around the world want to live in free democratic countries because they have respected governments. One can expect the rule of law in Australia, freedom in Australia and the rest of the free world, qualities that parents look to make their homes and bring up their children. Nobody wants to move to a dictatorship where your life literally depends on the whims of a dictator as is the case in Singapore.

As a result the citizens of these societies stay and work to build it up, while highly educated and skilled from around the world continue to move there to boost their skilled population even further. People in free societies love their countries and stay behind to improve it.

In Singapore on the other hand, everyone who can manage to leave is leaving and the sort of immigrants they attract are at best only mediocre, ones that cannot qualify for the West.

Steadily you will see Singapore island losing out to the competition of the free world. Singapore's banking laws have been changed to attract money launderers and thieves to park their money there. But it will not be these characters who can do anything for the island.

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About Me

Determined to find the Truth.
Born Singapore, educated Winstedt School 2 (next to Monks Hill in Newton, Singapore) Raffles Institution, National Service, some travel in Europe, then law studies England, return to Singapore, practiced for 10 years, active Workers Party member, stood elections 1988 and 1991 in Singapore, was harassed and persecuted by Lee Kuan Yew for my political beliefs, left for USA, obtained asylum and admitted California State Bar, practice law ever since in Fremont California near San Francisco. Relinquished Singapore citizenship 2005 because I was not prepared to permit Lee Kuan Yew to unjustly retain my CPF funds if I remained Singapore Citizen. On principle, the only correct thing for me to do was to give it up, for my CPF funds. I am an American Citizen as of 2004.